honoring the contribution of Jews to FloridaThe opening reception is Tuesday, October 24, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. at the Jewish Museum of Florida FIU 301 Washington Avenue, in Miami Beach

The Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU reinvents itself during this year’s Art Basel season witha new museum series entitled Subject to Interpretation that invites contemporary artists to re-interpret its core collection (chronicling the contributions of Jews living in Florida), and to create site-specific installations based on the artists’ interpretations and experiences with the collection. Artists will bring to life the relevance of the themes, struggles and successes depicted in the historic archives that tell the story of Florida Jews dating back to the 1800s, to convey how these personal stories continue to ring true in today’s modern world. The first artists selected for the new series is MONAD Studio, the award-winning architecture, art and design practice founded by husband and wife teamEric Goldemberg and Veronica Zalcberg. This is the duo’s first solo museum exhibition, featured during Art Basel Season. The opening reception for Subject to Interpretation: MONAD Studio is Tuesday, October 24, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. and the exhibition remains on view through February 25, 2018. The Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU is part of Florida International University and is located at 301 Washington Avenue on South Beach.

At the opening reception, MONAD Studios’ 3D printed titanium violin will be played by Michael Klotz, and the 3D printed monovioloncello by Jason Calloway.

The exhibition, Subject to Interpretation: MONAD Studio, features the duo’s stunning and powerful site-specific installation La Cole (the abbreviation for the Spanish phrase la colectividad judía en Argentina). This colloquial term, La Cole, is recognized by Argentines as lovingly referring to the local community of Jews and its close-knit, strong bonds. All of the elements of La Cole were created using state-of-the-art 3D printers. Large-scale, intricately ornate panels hover above the central space of the gallery.

Suspended from the ceiling as beacons of light, the panels are lit from above in luminous tones emanating down from the dome that adorns the building’s ceiling, radiating light across the porous surfaces of the panels, to evocatively portray the multiple links and rich relations shared between the members of communities all over the world. “Each individual panel will represent a cosmology of communal relations, fusing the singular and the multiple together, representing the coming together as a whole,” said Eric Goldemberg.

Eric Goldemberg and Veronica Zalcberg are originally from Argentina, and transplanted from New York to Miami in 2006. As architects and artists, they are renowned for their work with 3D printing and have been creating innovative transdisciplinary work together for 26 years.

The installation will also feature a sound component, created by the composer Jacob Sudol specifically for this exhibition. Sudol has sonified La Cole by applying sonic transducers to each panel to create interactive sounds.

On the ground level below the overhead installation, six of MONAD Studio’s signature 3D printed musical instruments will also be on view. MONAD’s functioning musical instruments, truly sensual sculptural works, are in high demand.

Cultural institutions request they be sent on loan to exhibitions and events all over the world including China, Japan, Russia, the Czech Republic, New York, London, Berlin and even at the National Library of Congress, plus technology festivals and 3D printing festivals worldwide. At the opening reception, MONAD Studios’ 3D printed titanium violin will be played by Michael Klotz, and the 3D printed monovioloncello will be played by Jason Calloway.

“This new series Subject to Interpretation is a bold departure for this institution, as we continue to spearhead the role of the museum for the 21st century,” said Susan Gladstone, the Director of the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU.

“Our museum team has enjoyed working with MONAD Studio and the result has been to create fresh, vibrant new work in our galleries. Eric and Veronica are renowned worldwide for their captivating work at FIU’s Miami Beach Urban Studios (MBUS) here on Miami Beach that combines art, architecture, music and design in such an extraordinary manner. We are very fortunate to have these talented artists set the bar so high for this new series that will propel our museum into its next phase of cultural leadership in the community,” adds Susan Gladstone

Veronica and Eric consider themselves as crossover artists, being architects that work across different mediums and with different collaborators. Their work overlaps creativity, design and art, and they are constantly mining for new vehicles and modes of artistic expression to reflect the fluid transitions between architecture and art – often strongly influenced by Miami’s environment.

“We’ve always been obsessed with the native Strangler Fig trees, even before we decided to move to Miami, from seeing them during our visits,” said Veronica Zalcberg. “We are continually fascinated with the shapes of these trees and how they latch onto existing trunks. This installation is after all, totally about roots and growth.”

“Our work for this museum exhibition brings forth the idea of an aggregation, multiples of the same kind that multiply in a certain way to sustain the idea of singularity of the individual but at the same time associating with each other so that they create a collective (La Cole) – a social armature supported by tradition and religion,” adds Eric Goldemberg.

More about MONAD Studio

MONAD Studio is an award-winning architecture practice focused in spatial perception related to rhythmic affect, with a variety of explorations ranging from the scale of urban plans to buildings, and from landscape to art installations, product design and music instruments. MONAD Studio’s designs highlight the range and complexity of sensations involved in constructing rhythmic ensembles at all scales of the urban experience, enhancing social interaction.

The sonic sculptures of MONAD Studio push the boundaries between different disciplines, integrating digital craft and luxurious forms in the making of sublime human experiences. Music, design, and space are synthesized by technology in MONAD Studio’s 3D printed music instruments. Goldemberg and Zalcberg’s projects have been exhibited and performed in New York at MoMA, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Jacob Javits Center; at Jaroslava Fragnera Gallery (Prague); at the National Library of Congress (Washington D.C.); at South Florida Art Center, The Wolfsonian-FIU, Now Contemporary Art, Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts Gallery.

Eric Goldemberg – Principal Designer

Eric is an architect, with a professional degree from the University of Buenos Aires and a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University, New York. He worked for Peter Eisenman as Senior Designer for the City of Culture of Galicia, Spain as well as heading design teams in several competitions. He was also Project Architect for Asymptote Architecture (Hani Rashid & Lise Anne Couture) on projects in Malaysia, The Netherlands and the Guggenheim Museum in Guadalajara, Mexico. In Buenos Aires he collaborated with Clorindo Testa and Estudio STAFF – the latter founded by his parents Jorge Jose Goldemberg and Teresa BIelus, with over 2,000,000 m2 of social housing projects built in South America. Goldemberg is Associate Professor and Digital Design Coordinator at Florida International University in Miami where he teaches graduate studios and advanced digital design and fabrication courses. Previously he taught at Pratt Institute, Columbia University, New York Institute of Technology, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and University of Buenos Aires.

Veronica Zalcberg – Principal Designer

She is an architect from Argentina, with a professional degree from the University of Buenos Aires and a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University. In New York, Veronica worked for United Architects (Greg Lynn, Alejandro Zaera Polo + Farshid Moussavi, Jesse Reiser + Nanako Umemoto, Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos, Kevin Kennon and Imaginary Forces) on the prestigious World Trade Center Competition and ECB World Bank Competition. Previously she had an extensive professional practice in Buenos Aires, receiving prizes for various competitions and relevant built projects. Zalcberg taught graduate design studios at Columbia University and New Jersey Institute of Technology.